Bombs found in Indonesian home

Jakarta, Indonesia Police discovered 60 homemade bombs stashed in an abandoned house in eastern Indonesian, where Muslims and Christians have a long history of violence, officials said Friday.

Police were tipped off to the cache of explosives by residents in the central Sulawesi coastal town of Poso, said Lt. Col. Suko Hariyanto, chief of the local police.

Hariyanto said some of the bombs found Thursday night appeared to be recently constructed and ready to use. Two weapons were also discovered.

Poso, about 1,000 miles northeast of the capital, was a major battleground in fighting between Christians and Muslims four years ago on Sulawesi, where about 1,000 people were killed and thousands of others displaced.

Large scale clashes have died down, but over the last year the island has seen an increase in attacks and bomb blasts.

Most of the victims have been Christians. Last month, unidentified men armed with machetes attacked a Christian preacher in Poso.

Factory blaze kills trapped workers

Narayanganj, Bangladesh A fire raced through a garment factory in Bangladesh, killing 22 people who were trapped because most of the exits were locked, officials said Friday.

Rescuers recovered the victims’ charred bodies after the fire destroyed the Sun Knit garment factory late Thursday in Siddhirganj, an industrial town near the capital, Dhaka, fire brigade official Nurul Islam said.

Nearly 500 workers – many of them women – were in the four-story building when the fire started, Islam said, adding the cause was being investigated.

Islam said the factory lacked adequate safety features and most of the exit stairs were locked during the blaze.

“All of the victims were trapped inside the factory and charred,” Islam said.

Firefighters stopped searching for more bodies in the debris Friday morning, while hundreds of onlookers flocked to the factory to search for loved ones.

Free cancer care for Mexican children

Mexico City All Mexican children with cancer will receive free treatment as long as they need it, President Vicente Fox announced Thursday.

The announcement came as Fox inaugurated the Mexico City-based National Council for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer in Infants and Adolescents.

The council will serve as a clearinghouse for the “total treatment of this evil, which has become one of the principal health problems affecting children in our country,” Fox said.

Currently, Mexico’s social security system covers people who work in taxpaying jobs, while most people involved in the informal economy – maids, street vendors, and farmers – are left out. At least half of Mexico’s employed population is estimated to work in the informal economy.

“With the council’s help, in Mexico there no longer will be any child or adolescent with cancer who lacks the necessary medical and psychological attention,” Fox said. “They will receive all of this completely free of charge and during the entire duration of their recovery.”